you can't always get what you want

Read: “our new house” is also “my new...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 20:19:42 -0400

Read: “our new house” is also “my new house” because this is my roommate’s blog. Ahem.

“we buy livers” - at the corner of our new house in South Philly.

also by gorilla upskirts: neighbors with flavor and 300 chickens for a wife. which was removed. the trash, however, remained.

The only article you ever need to read about Rick Santorum.

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:08:09 -0500

The only article you ever need to read about Rick Santorum.:

The interviews may be made-up, but the observations are 100% terrifyingly true.

Dylan Ratigan, Mad as Hell: His Epic 'Network' Moment

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:11:54 -0400

megrobertson:

We’ve got a real problem…this is a mathematical fact. Tens of trillions of dollars are being extracted from the United States of America. Democrats aren’t fixing it, Republicans aren’t stopping it — an entire integrated system, banking, trade and taxation, created by both parties over a period of two decades is at work decimating our entire country right now. MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan took it all on in this epic rant from his show today.

Brilliant, enraging, articulate, informed. I’m so glad someone had the guts, or rather the overwhelming frustration to finally come out and say this on national television. The only unfortunate part about all of this - who is listening? Also, who watches MSNBC? People who already agree with people like Dylan Ratigan, Rachel Maddow. It’s not like Obama is going to see this and have an, “Aha!” moment. “Wow, he’s so right. Congress doesn’t care about the general public, they care about campaign money from corporations and getting re-elected. Don’t worry, general public, I’ll save you!”

Yeah the fuck right. But thanks anyway, Dylan. I’m glad someone gets it.

motherjones: F*ck You (Scott Walker) A #wiunion Cee Lo homage.

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 14:19:14 -0500

motherjones:

F*ck You (Scott Walker)

A #wiunion Cee Lo homage.

Fuck fair and balanced, how about reasonable and sane?

Thu, 09 Dec 2010 11:37:17 -0500

Boy, I sure am glad that in a country where citizens so blindly regurgitate the information shared with them by their mainstream news organizations, that the figureheads of those organizations are such reasonable, rational people.

“This guy’s a traitor, he’s treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I’m not for the death penalty, so…there’s only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son of a bitch.” - Bob Beckel, Fox News on Julian Assange

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/07/fox-news-bob-beckel-calls_n_793467.html

I see what you're trying to do here.

Tue, 26 Oct 2010 12:16:49 -0400

Two weeks ago, I was ready to rage about the fact that Christine O’Donnell “didn’t know” that separation of church and state was a principle of the first amendment. Today, I read an article mentioning two additional incidents of apparent Constitutional misguidance:

First, Colorado GOP candidate for Senate, Ken Buck, who strongly disagrees with the concept of separation of church and state. I’m sorry, but since when did a Senator, or anyone in an elected political office, have the right to disagree with any “concept” of the Constitution? Isn’t it their duty to preserve and protect?

Here’s the article: http://huff.to/cD4vvp

Secondly, the article mentions Sharron Angle (famous for telling a Nevada classroom full of Hispanic children that they “look more Asian” to her) who has proclaimed that separation of church and state is merely a gross misinterpretation of Thomas Jefferson, who made the statement out of context, and never meant for it to be implied by the Constitution.

“Idiots!” I thought. “Let the rage ensue!” I thought. But then I realized. These candidates are not idiots (okay, well they may be, but their campaign managers are not.) This is an elaborate strategy, similar to that of Fox News’: rhetoric. Repeat the same (incorrect) phrases over and over, and soon enough, you’ve got all of Red America believing it. Repeating it every chance they get. Teaching it to their children. Even stomping someone’s head over it. (See: http://bit.ly/97zH3N)

Convince enough people that what you’re saying is true, and believe me, this shouldn’t be hard to do in the age of political ads that basically say, “Joe Smith is a dumb-dumb baby-eater!” and later on that week you’ll here someone in line at the grocery store saying, “Goodness, I’m not voting for Smith. Haven’t you heard? He eats babies!” When people cease to seek information for themselves, and rely on candidates to tell them what to believe, things like, “Separate of church and state is not implied by the First Amendment,” quickly turn from hilarious, misguided fiction, to sad, sad fact.

"Clearly, Frito Lay over-estimated the public’s commitment to sustainability. True commitment means..."

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:50:25 -0400

““Clearly, Frito Lay over-estimated the public’s commitment to sustainability. True commitment means you’re willing to sustain some inconvenience. SunChips’ customers clearly weren’t willing to do that.””

- - Heidi Tolliver-Nigro

Frito-Lay is pulling their famously loud compostable packaging, simply because, it’s actually TOO loud for consumers to tolerate. Really? I mean, really. This isn’t some sad joke? THAT many people actually complained that an entire corporation’s attempts to be more green quite literally go straight into the garbage because their chip bag makes crunch noises? America, you can’t always get what you want. Oh wait, apparently you can. You make me sad.

"We live in troubled times, with real people who have real problems. … Problems that have real..."

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 00:37:00 -0400

““We live in troubled times, with real people who have real problems. … Problems that have real but imperfect solutions, that I believe 70 to 80 percent of our population could agree to try, and ultimately live with. Unfortunately, the conversation and the process is controlled by the other 15 to 20 percent. You may know them as the people who believe that Obama is a secret Muslim planning a socialist takeover of America … or that George Bush let 9/11 happen to help pad Dick Cheney’s Halliburton stock portfolio. You’ve seen their signs: ‘Obama is Hitler’; ‘Bush is Hitler’… But why don’t we hear from the 70 to 80 percenters? Well, most likely because you have shit to do.””

- Jon Stewart

McChrystal: All-American asshole, who may be on to something

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:59:09 -0400

The Runaway General

When I first read the headlines about General McChrystal and his uncouth and inappropriate comments in his candid interview with Rolling Stone, I thought, “Gee, another military asshole too concerned with killing brown people to see the big picture.” Who would have the audacity to publicly badmouth his own administration/boss the way he did? Just some shaved-head AK-toting “full-blood American,” drinking his Bud Light Lime and watching Nascar. But I’m not sure that’s what I think now.

One thing is for certain, the guy is an asshole. Everything about him screams, “I’m compensating!”…but maybe he’s on to something. Generally, McChrystal has made it clear that he thinks the Obama administration lacks balls. He says their decisions are more like suggestions, to-do lists for the future, rather than resolutions to make change now, and that they lack the resolve to accomplish the goals. The more I think about it, the more he is right, in general. The problem I see with McChrystal’s comments is that they weren’t in regard to matters of extreme, immediate national importance like stopping the oil spill, punishing BP, turning the economy around, restructuring Wall Street - his comments were about Afghanistan.

Obviously, he’s a military guy. What does he know about hedge funds or ecosystems? He’s speaking about what he knows, what he believes in. Unfortunately, this is where I think he’s wrong. We’ve lost all of our allies in Afghanistan for a reason. We don’t need to be firmer, more resolute…we need to back the fuck off. What is our military presence really going to do in a country with enough military presence of their own? Confuse the fuck out of them, that’s what. Impoverish them even more as we try desperately to restructure their ailing economy, only to make them rely more heavily on us, totally fucking them when we do eventually leave.

But McChrystal is definitely onto something when he says that our leaders are a bunch of pansies. Those lobbyists oughta be real proud of themselves…their constant cash flow is effectively halting progress on most fronts because our elected officials won’t stand firm on their prior decisions (see overturned oil drilling moratorium.) The more I read (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Big Short), the more I watch (Food Inc., Capitalism; A Love Story)…the more I realize (not that I’ve lived in a box for the last 23 years, I’ve just carried a certain level of faith in my government until now) that our entire system is run by lobbyists, by corporations with the big bucks, and by those few people with enough money to get the people who matter to say yes or no. It goes past corruption…it’s just fucking greed.

So, General McChrystal, whether you resign or are fired, know this…one liberal democrat in central PA hears ya, doesn’t necessarily agree, but hears ya. And I hope before you go, you put one last boot in their asses, and maybe kick them a little bit closer to that change we’ve been hearing about for the last two years.

P.S. - Someday, when someone gives me a job, I pinky swear I’ll do everything in my power to provide alternative viewpoints, to notice and commend independent journalists, to do thorough research, to expand horizons. If Americans don’t know that things need to be changed, they’ll never demand change. Ima show ‘em.

"When we mistake what we can known for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one’s..."

Tue, 01 Jun 2010 19:58:44 -0400

““When we mistake what we can known for all there is to know, a healthy appreciation of one’s ignorance in the face of a mystery…gives way to the hubris that we can treat nature as a machine.””

- The Omnivore’s Dilemma - Michael Pollan

Huffington Post names Ithaca College one of the Greenest Colleges

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:27:14 -0400

Huffington Post names Ithaca College one of the Greenest Colleges:

lauraswanson:

…and by the photo they chose you’d think one of the ugliest.

It’s Earth day. Couldn’t they have at least chosen a photo with something other than the Charlie Brown Christmas tree? Come on folks!

Seriously. That’s quite possibly the least appealing picture I have ever seen of Ithaca College. And I lived there in the winter, when it was EXTREMELY unappealing.

Doctors testing LSD and psilocybin on patients with anxiety

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:18:34 -0400

Doctors testing LSD and psilocybin on patients with anxiety:

I’ve been doing research on psychoactive drugs myself out of curiosity to try, but have been hesitant because of my anxiety and where my brain may take me. Articles like this are helping me to understand the benefits of tripping, and that it might actually help me (as my friends have been saying for months) to better understand myself on a deeper level and as a result, lessen my anxiety. My friends have said, and the article concurs, that people rate their trip as one of their top five spiritual experiences.

As one redditor put it: “This is the way psychoactive drugs should be taken: With respect and with purpose.”

My friends say that doing drugs like acid and mushrooms has changed (for the better) the way they view their relationships with nature and with the people close to them. I’m starting to think that maybe it’s my turn to join them.

I’ve been discovering so much new music lately, it’s...

Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:42:00 -0400

I’ve been discovering so much new music lately, it’s really exciting for me to be back in the music scene a little bit. I feel like that’s a part of me that got lost along the way to telelvision nirvana. This is one of my new favorite bands, The Morning Benders, performing their song “Excuses” from their new album, Big Echo. This is a “music found-about,” combining the incredible talent of multiple musicians from the San Francisco area into one giant, creative, harmonic eargasm. Isn’t it better when we work together?

Taxes or adorable kitteh? Tough decisions on this dreary Friday...

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 15:53:15 -0400

Taxes or adorable kitteh? Tough decisions on this dreary Friday afternoon.

All the teeny-boppers storming the stage during the Sleepyhead...

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:48:22 -0400

All the teeny-boppers storming the stage during the Sleepyhead at the encore of the Passion Pit show Monday night. It would’ve been totally cool, except they ended the song early because people were waving mic stands around, and you couldn’t even see the band anymore! Worst part - most of those kids were like 16, taking pictures of their friends taking pictures of themselves, drinking Bacardi Razz out of Deer Park water bottles - and they weren’t even singing! Grandma Becky felt old.

Other than that, the show was tits. The lights were awesome, band sounded great. I was incredibly impressed how much their live show sounds like their studio recordings. Little Secrets was awesome, I was drenched in sweat by the end. Not the best venue, but I appreciate when a band I like that much comes to lil ol’ York and puts on a rocking good time.

Photo

Sat, 20 Mar 2010 12:49:03 -0400

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass The days of elaborate,...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:01:00 -0500

OK Go - This Too Shall Pass

The days of elaborate, well-orchestrated music videos are not dead! My mind was blown, especially when parts of the Rube Goldberg device actually match up to the rhythm of the song. Coolest fucking video ever. I want this to be my job, please.

Ode to the service industry

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:20:00 -0500

Working a double

Would be great money except

Tip out thirty percent

Or:

One would think that if

I work in a restaurant

They would feed me lunch

Or:

Your suit costs a grand

You order the filet, rare

Tip me five dollars

Or:

There are more workers

Than customers at lunch time

Why haven’t they learned

(Idea via @soulpancake) http://www.soulpancake.com/post/742/irate-i-write.html

(via papertissue) Oh, you beautiful human being, you.

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:32:03 -0500

(via papertissue)

Oh, you beautiful human being, you.

Passion Pit steps it up a notch with their second video release...

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:00:50 -0500

Passion Pit steps it up a notch with their second video release for the song (my favorite of theirs, actually) ‘Little Secrets.’ Pitchfork was relatively unimpressed (what else is new), saying, “There are some kids wearing paper bags on their heads and confetti falls from the rafters at some point,” but I love the lighting and the energy in the video. And I think the confetti is sweet. Plus the song bangs. I can’t wait to dance and flail haplessly when I see them play at Penn State York in March!